Photo credit: Michael Lavine

11 APRIL 2024 (TORONTO, ON) — World-renowned pianist, podcaster, and certified breathwork educator Chad Lawson has announced Where We Are, a new album of original solo piano works inspired by messages from his fans about how his music has affected their lives. Lawson is known for exploring the intersection between music and wellness with chart-topping contemporary classical releases and his iHeart Radio Award-nominated podcast Calm It Down, which explores mental health topics and meditation techniques soundtracked by Chad’s music. Lawson’s music has struck a chord with listeners worldwide, with plays of his recordings totalling a billion streams. His last two albums breathe and You Finally Knew have received over 700M streams, unprecedented in the classical genre.

A certified breathwork expert, Lawson has shared the lead single, “Sanctuary,” along with an accompanying music video to mark World Breathing Day, April 11th, a global celebration of the practice of conscious breathing. On the track he plays a delicate piano melody in an almost-cyclical repetition. “It sets the theme of what the album is,” he notes. “‘Sanctuary’ is the place where you personally find healing. People want to be gentle with themselves and feel okay, but they don’t know how.”

Coinciding with the announcement and release of “Sanctuary,” Chad is partnering with the International Breathwork Foundation for a Zoom workshop titled “Healing through Music and Breathwork.” Chad’s live piano playing will be interwoven with a conscious connected breath session led by Lauren Chelec Cafritz. The session will happen on April 11 at 4pm ET/1pm PT/9pm CET. Tickets are free via the link BELOW.

“My role is to impact the heart rather than impress the mind,” he notes. “That’s how I see my music. Right now, it seems like everyone is very tired. So, I’m trying to meet people Where They Are—which is where the name of the album came from. I’m going to be in the thick of it with them. I’m putting my hands out and saying, ‘I’ll hold you through this’.”

Chad’s connection with his audience has only strengthened over the years. As a musician since the age of five, he has carefully honed his craft via dozens of albums and countless shows. Chad’s last two albums, breathe and You Finally Knew, have spent 119 weeks in the Top 10 of the Billboard Top 200 Classical Albums chart since September 2020, while his songs have spent 146 weeks in the Top 10 of the Billboard Classical On-Demand Streaming chart since April 2020. In 2014, The Chopin Variations vaulted to #1 on the Billboard Top Classical Albums Chart. Meanwhile, 2018’s seminal LP, Re: Piano, saw him return to the Top 5 of the Billboard Top Classical Albums Chart in addition to reaching #1 on the iTunes Top Classical Albums Chart.

Lawson’s podcast Calm It Down has become a hit in its own right, earning over 5 million downloads to date. It was also recently named an honoree in the "Health, Wellness and Lifestyle" category for the 2024 Webby Awards, alongside Jay Shetty.

Along the way, his presence has coursed through popular culture with placements on The Walking Dead, Vampire Diaries, and Viceland, the score of Prime Video’s Lore as well as campaigns for Chevrolet, IBM, Microsoft, Purina, Delta, and more. He has appeared on CBS Sunday Morning, NPR’s All Things Considered, and GRAMMY.com’s Positive Vibes Only. In 2022, he presented his double-album breathe in conjunction with National Suicide Prevention and Awareness Month. Forbes hailed the LP as “melodic and soothing,” and Variety christened him one of the artists who Lead the Wave of Music for Slumber and Relaxation. In September of last year, Chad delivered a special breathwork session and piano performance at the first Music + Health summit hosted by Universal Music Group chairman Sir Lucian Grainge and Thrive Global CEO Arianna Huffington in Los Angeles. The focus of the event was exploring the direct relationships between music and health, discussing recent research that has documented music’s therapeutic and medical benefits, and introducing some of the new applications of technology that are helping to harness it.

In 2023, poignant audience interactions, including a particularly moving encounter in Baton Rouge, guided the direction of his next album.

“A listener approached me in tears,” he recalls. “She shared with me, ‘My dad is battling cancer, and your music and podcast have been the only thing I've been listening to. I just had to come and say thank you’. I noticed listeners don’t come up to me and say, ‘You’re an amazing pianist’. They say, ‘You’re helping me right now’. I was initially going to make an album about chasing dreams, but it wasn’t the right time. Given the current social climate, I felt compelled to create something simple yet sincere. Where We Are is an invitation to decompress."

For Where We Are, Lawson fulfilled a dream by recording at the famed Rainbow Studios in Oslo, Norway, moving from his previous sessions at Abbey Road to a place that held personal significance due to his admiration for Keith Jarrett.

He elaborates, “Oslo was a magical place to make this. I was at Abbey Road for the last two records. I brought my own microphone, and I had a certain sound in mind. With Rainbow, I grew up listening to that sound. I walked in empty handed like, ‘I’m just going to play, and you guys do what you do’. I couldn’t be happier with the result.”

As Lawson looks forward to more performances and podcasts, his main hope is for Where We Are to offer listeners a pause for healing and self-acceptance.

“I hope this album allows you to press pause on the world and heal however you can by listening,” he concludes. “Where We Are is me being okay with who I am and not trying to be a different pianist. I’m just writing music I think people will benefit from. I’ve realized that I like myself, and I hope I can inspire you to feel the same way.”